I heard this phrase edupreneurship on an on line marketing webinar the other night. I thought, that is ME! I am an educator and an entrepreneur.
I remember the first day of school last year, I looked at my class and decided, this is my last year. I am tired. Having taught for 21 years, I was not happy anymore, and I needed a change.
I had already started a small consulting agency, therefore, I had a foundation in place. What had not been done was to actually market the company. Yes, I did a few things: registered with the state, built a website, purchased business cards, and promoted a little on linkedin.com. However, it was nothing serious, and not receiving significant results either.
Marketing was something new to me. Although I had joined a few MLM's (Multi-Level-Marketing businesses) over my lifetime, and all of them had the basic format. You buy their starter kit, go to their training and miraculously you were making enough to quit your full-time job. Well, the reality to this is, no, you don't, at least not at first. I'm sure you do, eventually.
But one thing that I did learn from all of the MLM's was that promotion your item is key. You must live, breathe and eat your product. Although I am sure I could have made enough to stay home and only the MLM, I did not. It is difficult working a MLM and perform a fulltime job. At the time, I wasn't sure if working hard was worth having economical freedom.
Then I found out about writing a blog. I began to blog about my skills as an educator. THIS was worth working hard enough to have financial independence.
The more I blogged, the more I learned. MLM businesses I had joined, taught me the basics of marketing. (Wow, I had not lost my cash after all!) Blogging your products, services, and/or ideas was marketing.
The training in learning to market my educational expertise with my consulting company was just as time consuming as the MLM market trainings. Except the fact that I could train at my own pace and not go somewhere or listen on a phone conference until 9 or 9:30 in the evening.
Here is what I have found to help me in my short lived journey in marketing my blog.
1. Listen to podcasts. They are free. Caution, observe the date of the podcast, as information may have changed over a couple of years. I enjoy Jon Buscall with Online Marketing & Communications Podcasts via (ITunes).
2. Create a strategy. Choose, what you want to promote. I already had a strategy in place, so I knew where I wanted to go with my organization.
3. Get a mentor. This person will allow you to bounce ideas around to make sure you are not going too far off in the wrong path.
4. Present at conferences. This is a way to get your name and branding out there.
5. Watch YouTube videos on marketing. There are so many, however, stay focused on what you want and not get sucked into the quick cash ones. You will know which sites offer good advice and ones that leave you saying, "Really?"
6. If the thought of writing is scary for you, there are many sites that will do it for you, for a small fee, Elance.com and guru.com are two popular ones.
7. During school breaks attend networking events to share your blog.
Online marketing is one way to begin to ease into a fulltime job and still work in education.
Leave a comment expression your opinion, like if you do, share if you will.
I remember the first day of school last year, I looked at my class and decided, this is my last year. I am tired. Having taught for 21 years, I was not happy anymore, and I needed a change.
I had already started a small consulting agency, therefore, I had a foundation in place. What had not been done was to actually market the company. Yes, I did a few things: registered with the state, built a website, purchased business cards, and promoted a little on linkedin.com. However, it was nothing serious, and not receiving significant results either.
Marketing was something new to me. Although I had joined a few MLM's (Multi-Level-Marketing businesses) over my lifetime, and all of them had the basic format. You buy their starter kit, go to their training and miraculously you were making enough to quit your full-time job. Well, the reality to this is, no, you don't, at least not at first. I'm sure you do, eventually.
But one thing that I did learn from all of the MLM's was that promotion your item is key. You must live, breathe and eat your product. Although I am sure I could have made enough to stay home and only the MLM, I did not. It is difficult working a MLM and perform a fulltime job. At the time, I wasn't sure if working hard was worth having economical freedom.
Then I found out about writing a blog. I began to blog about my skills as an educator. THIS was worth working hard enough to have financial independence.
The more I blogged, the more I learned. MLM businesses I had joined, taught me the basics of marketing. (Wow, I had not lost my cash after all!) Blogging your products, services, and/or ideas was marketing.
The training in learning to market my educational expertise with my consulting company was just as time consuming as the MLM market trainings. Except the fact that I could train at my own pace and not go somewhere or listen on a phone conference until 9 or 9:30 in the evening.
Here is what I have found to help me in my short lived journey in marketing my blog.
1. Listen to podcasts. They are free. Caution, observe the date of the podcast, as information may have changed over a couple of years. I enjoy Jon Buscall with Online Marketing & Communications Podcasts via (ITunes).
2. Create a strategy. Choose, what you want to promote. I already had a strategy in place, so I knew where I wanted to go with my organization.
3. Get a mentor. This person will allow you to bounce ideas around to make sure you are not going too far off in the wrong path.
4. Present at conferences. This is a way to get your name and branding out there.
5. Watch YouTube videos on marketing. There are so many, however, stay focused on what you want and not get sucked into the quick cash ones. You will know which sites offer good advice and ones that leave you saying, "Really?"
6. If the thought of writing is scary for you, there are many sites that will do it for you, for a small fee, Elance.com and guru.com are two popular ones.
7. During school breaks attend networking events to share your blog.
Online marketing is one way to begin to ease into a fulltime job and still work in education.
Leave a comment expression your opinion, like if you do, share if you will.
About the Author:
Learn more about Blog. Stop by Dr. Genola Johnson's site where you can find out all about the business of education. Visit Jon Buscall's, visitOnline Marketing & Communications Podcasts
No comments:
Post a Comment